The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1887-08-17

was certain if the twisted wood in
the broken cars caught fire.
And to fight the fire there was not
a drop of water and only some fifty
able-bodied men who had still pres
ence of mind and nerve enough to
do their duty. The only light was
the light of the burning bridge and
with so much of its aid the fifty men
went to work to subdue it. For
four hours they fought like fiends
and for four hours the victory hung
in the balance. Earth was the only
weapon with which the fire could be
fought and SO the attempt was made
to smother it out.
MEN TURN INTO HEROES.
There was no pick or shovel to
dig it up, no baskets or barrows to
carry it in, and SO desperate they
dug their fingers down into the
earth, which long drouth had baked
almost as hard as stone and heaped
the precious handfuls thus hardly
won upon the encroaching flames,
and with this earthwork built hand
full by handful, kept back the foe.
/ While this was going On, other
brave men crept underneath the
wrecked cars, beneath the fire and
the wooden bars, which held pris-
oners SO many precious lives, and
with pieces of board and sometimes
their hands beat back the flames
when they flashed up alongside some
unfortunate wretch who, pinioned
) down by heavy beam, looked on
, helplessly while it seemed as if his
3 death by fire was certain; and while
4 the fight was going on, the ears o1
t the workers were filed with groans
r of dying men, and the anguishee
!. entreaties of those whose deatl
seemed certain, unless the terrible
blaze could be extinguished, and tn
d cries Of those too badly hurt to car
f in what manner the end was brough
# about, so only it would be quick
h So they dug up the earth with thei
e hands, reckless of the blood stream
q ing out from broken finger nails, an
l. heaping it up in little mounds, Will
all the while came the heartrendin
4 cries: ''For Gods sake, don't let u
ID burn to death!'
n. But finally the victory was wo1
90 the fire was put out after four hou1
~ of endeavor, and as its last sparl
ID died away, light came up in Il
no east to take their place and daN
TO- came upon a scene of horror.
n ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTEEN DEAD.
st While the fight had been going o
nd men had been dying and there we
xs not so many wounded to take o
= of the wreck as there had been TO
ha hours before. But in the meantin
be the country had been aroused: he
&c had come from Chatsworth, Fore
no and Piper City, and as the dead We
int laid reverently alongside OF ca
- other, out in the cornfeld, tht
were ready hands to take them II
/, Chatsworth, while some of
"a wounded were carried to Piper Ci
=. One hundred and eighteen was
os - awful poll of the dead, while
wounded numbered four times t
number. The full tale of the de
-, can not however, be told yet
,b,e days.
- Chatsworth was turned intt
,,.u morgue to-day. The town hall,
engine house, the depot were
full of dead bodies, while every he
in the little village had its quot
with the wounded. There were over
the corpses lying in the e1tempor
The dead houses, and every man
the woman was turned into an anna
mon but jealous nurse. Over in the
card ber yard the noise of hammers
dren saws rang out in the air, and
nned the busy carpenters were ma
rough coffins to carry to their b
rihle the dead bodies OF the excurslo